Edible Landscaping

Avant g

by Derek Fell

The term ‘Edible Landscaping’ refers to the use of food crops notably vegetables and herbs—to create a decorative space as well as a functional one. The best example of this exists in France at the Chateau Villandry where mostly vegetables and fruit trees are used inside elaborate parterre hedges to provide color through the three growing seasons—spring, summer and fall. For example, it is amazing how attractive rosettes of red lettuce can be when it is partnered with round heads of blue-green cabbages and bushy pepper plants loaded with green, red, yellow and orange fruits.

At my home, Cedaridge Farm we have made our vegetable garden look decorative by planting topiary Japanese willows at strategic intervals. We also use mixtures of vegetables in containers, such as ‘Rainbow’ chard which has multi-colored leaf ribs that can display up to 11 distinct colors, including white, yellow, orange, red and pink. I also like to use herbs with different foliage colors in containers—for example, the spear-shaped grey leaves of sage contrasting with glossy dark green basil and wispy, arching leaf blades of light green lemon grass.

The French are famous for their potagers (or kitchen gardens, pronounced pot-Ah-jay) and although there are no rules for planting a potager, it is usually formal in design, with blocks of vegetables and herbs planted within clipped boxwood hedges. A good alternative to box wood might be perennial strawberry plants, especially an ever-bearing day-neutral like ‘Albion’ which will produce several flushes of fruit during the growing season. French gardeners might contrast a block of dark green potato foliage with the spiky leaves of blue-green leeks and dark-red leaves of ‘Bull’s Blood’ beets. The idea of planting vegetables in blocks has been called the ‘French Intensive’ way of growing food crops because it makes the best use of available space. For example, instead of a single row of carrots, radishes, beets, turnips or parsnips, the seed is sown in a wide row, usually 1 or 2 ft. wide, the seedlings thinned to ensure they do not crowd each other out.

French potagers will also mix flowers for cutting with edibles. Popular annuals include asters, cosmos, larkspur, marigolds, sweet peas and zinnias, while flowering bulbs may include a wide row of gladiolus, Asiatic lilies and dahlias. The French will also take color high into the sky by training rambler roses up arbors and trellises. Even a vining tomato plant can look highly decorative when its clusters of red or yellow fruit are allowed to drape down in generous clusters. Cherry tomatoes such as ‘Sungold’ and ‘Sweet 100’ are excellent choices for this purpose, as well as a decorative melon such as ‘Tigger’or ‘Sweetness’, both of which have yellow fruits that are striped red, and highly fragrant as well as being delicious to eat. There are also a number of pole bean varieties that will climb, draping their yellow, purple and red striped pods among their trifoliate leaves. Also, don’t overlook the value of grapes for taking color high into the sky. I especially like the dusky blue grapes, but red and black (such as ‘Concord’) are also excellent choices.

One of the finest decorative herb gardens in Bucks County can be seen at the Delaware Valley Agricultural College. Named in honor of Lois Burpee, wife of the dean of seedsmen, David Burpee, a simple rectangular plot is divided into square plantings spaces by red brick paths, and entered through arches festooned with hop vines. Lois produced a book (now out of print) titled with a mix of information about growing vegetables and recipes she used to entertain visitors to Fordhook Farm which still serves as Burpee’s research farm, near Doylestown.

During a visit to Wales, at the resort spa of Bodysgallon, I saw an even more decorative herb planting in the form of a medieval knot garden, using boxwood hedges to create an elaborate embroidery design with different textures and colors of herbs to provide color within the hedges.

I also liked the way fruit trees were espaliered against sunny walls to save space, not only apples, pears and peaches, but also apricots, plums and cherries (choose ‘North Star’ for its ability to fruit generously when young). You might even try a south-facing wall to grow an espaliered fig tree, such as the hardy ‘Brown Turkey.’ At Cedaridge Farm we have found a sunny wall usually offers sufficient protection from freezing.

Derek Fell is a prolific Bucks County garden writer. Two of his books for Rodale include ‘Vertical Gardening’ and ‘Grow This!’ He also publishes an on-line monthly newsletter, the ‘Avant Gardener’ (avantgardener.info).

William N. Waite

Worthington and Shagen Custom Builder

Now in our fourth generation as a family business, at Worthington and Shagen Custom Builder we build custom-crafted, extraordinarily detailed, and fine-finished new homes, renovations, restorations, and additions.